07/28/2008: "#5 - Open Questions To Candidates"

The Island Guardian is sponsoring weekly questions to the county council candidates, and will publish their responses; and responses of the voters to their answers.

Question Number Five:

Some council members have expressed concern that paid employees of special interest groups sit on one, or more, citizen advisory groups Do you share this concern? Why?
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Bruce R. Orchid

I do not share the concern that some council members might have that some citizen advisory groups have members who are paid employees of a special interest group.

I can think of several instances where I would welcome the input from experts: for instance if I were studying the formation of a County-wide Arts Council, as I did in 1990, I would certainly asked the local art centers to send a Board member and their executive director to offer advice. I would value both the opinions and recommendations of the non-paid more member as well as the paid staff person. In fact I appointed Tom Luft, from San Juan Sanitation, to serve on the Solid Waste Advisory committee in 1989. Who else has better advice?

The key here is advisory. Recommendations come from these citizen groups, but the legislative body makes the decision and a good council member would not only listen to the advisory opinion, but also public opinion, professional advisors, as well as the law as it might pertain to the issue! Recently I have been asked what my position is on this issue or that, my answer being, I am a good listener, will seek input and advice, and will only make a decisions after well thought out study and contemplation, based on that advice, input and the law! Certainly I have my own opinions on issues, but I let go of those as I study any issue in front of me. I did so as a County Commissioner, as a School Board Director, and I will continue that as a County Council member! -Bruce Orchid

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Gordy Petersen

Yes, I am concerned about stacking committees with people who are paid to represent the interest of their employers. These committee members don’t get paid to compromise.

This is a fairly recent phenomenon. I have served on many volunteer committees in the past where members had diverse interests except no one was paid. The committee’s work was completed successfully because everyone wanted to accomplish the same goal. This is not the case now because compromise is not possible when some special interest group is invested in a specific outcome.

The biggest problem I see is that volunteerism is disappearing. The county has begun a trend to hire people to serve on committees. There are now many County employees on what used to be volunteer committees. I disagree with this policy and in my opinion the committee should be disbanded if there is no public interest. -Gordy Petersen

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Alan Lichter

Even non-affiliated citizens will join committees because they have a special interest or special perspective on issues. My point is that there is no such thing as "objectivity," and therefore I'm not overly concerned about employees of special interest groups sitting on committees, unless they are obviously and overtly pushing their employer's agenda.

The crucial factor in selecting members of a committee is to assure as wide a range of ideas and thinking as possible, rather than searching out volunteers with the least amount of bias. -Alan Lichter
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Lovel Pratt

Citizen advisory groups provide an important service to San Juan County. I believe that decisions should be made with plenty of public participation, and that the respectful engagement of people with varying views and interests promotes effective and responsive solutions. Advisory committees provide a forum for citizens with diverse goals and understandings to learn about an issue and formulate recommendations that take into consideration a broad range of views.

In this question’s phrase ‘paid employees of special interest groups’ I would also include those people who participate on advisory groups because of their jobs. In addition to the employees of organizations such as the San Juan Builders Association and Friends of the San Juans, we should consider the land use attorneys, farmers, permitting service providers, realtors, water service providers, and others who participate because of their work, in addition to their interest and desire to provide public service.

The County Council would be hard pressed to fill all the advisory groups’ positions solely with citizens who have no vested interest through their paid work/profession. It can also be a tremendous boon to have expert participants on advisory committees. For example, the County could not afford to hire Ken Sebens, Director of the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs to spend innumerable hours advising on marine issues, which he does voluntarily on the Marine Resources Committee.

If elected, I will work to appoint advisory groups that include as diverse and broad a range of stakeholders as possible, in addition to geographical (island) representation. San Juan County is fortunate to have so many concerned and dedicated citizens who are willing to serve on advisory committees. - Lovel Pratt

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Howard Rosenfeld

Charter Completion activity has taken a lot of Council and staff time during the last 1½ year. Bringing our committees under the Charter has brought up a number of issues, including this one. Ideally, it might be better to have unpaid citizens. But even unpaid citizens can have agendas.

This is a mixed bag that cuts both ways. If the paid member represents your group, you like it, and visa versa. Bottom line, the Council needs to carefully consider each candidate when making appointments, and try to appoint the best person. The Council has taken steps to advertise all vacancies, and do more interviewing. Applicant affiliations, paid and unpaid, need to be taken into consideration. Unfortunately, there is often no choice. Sometimes we’re lucky to get even one applicant. There are currently open seats on some important committees. For instance, we’ve been advertising for months for the Town seat on the County Planning Commission.

Many people haven’t the time for these commitments. Then, because we’re a county of islands, the ferry schedule requires most County committees to meet during the day. By contrast, most Town of Friday Harbor committees, made up of locals, meet in the evening. This makes it much easier for those who hold jobs to participate.

At least paid employees of special interest groups can attend County committee meetings regularly, sometimes putting in much extra time. They are knowledgeable, and they are really interested in even the routine, and sometimes boring, but necessary, aspects of committee work. -Howie Rosenfeld

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Fay Chaffee

Citizen advisory groups, or committees (CACs), should be representative of various points of view. There is no official or implied bias against paid employees of special interest groups being part of these groups. Rather, various governmental writings and guidelines about CACs make the following statements (the “agency” would be the county government in this case):

It (the CAC) is democratic and representative of opposing points of view, with equal status for each participant

If membership is not fully representative, an agency should encourage unrepresented groups to attend or seek their input in some other way.

Diversity in viewpoints is a plus, to ensure full discussion.
A CAC does not encompass all points of view. By virtue of being representative, it is never all-inclusive. A CAC’s voice may be skewed if it does not represent all stakeholders and the general public. It may be difficult to represent minority interests.
When considering the advice of such groups, the County Council must always be cognizant of the makeup of the committee, be aware if divergent points of view are �" or are not �" represented, and use their counsel accordingly. As a County Council member, it will be incumbent upon me as well as the balance of the Council to be highly sensitive to these matters. -Fay Chaffee
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Lisa Guard

Citizen advisory groups spend many volunteer hours weighing important information that helps to guide our future. “Citizen” should mean exactly that, not a paid employee of a special interest group. Special interest groups are just what they claim to be, specialized in their area. This knowledge may allow them to twist or manipulate the regular citizen with facts that are pertinent to their cause. Advisory groups need to be balanced with all the facts that they are studying to make the best choices and decisions for our county. - Lisa Guard
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Daniel Miller

Indeed, it is very interesting that some members of citizen advisory committees are paid members of special interest groups. I too am concerned with this practice.

I do not think that members of citizen advisory committees should be paid members of special interest groups. the slots on the citizen advisory committees are supposed to be taken by citizens in the community that are concerned about policy but are not paid, are they not. For example, on the ferry advisory committee their probably should not be folks that are paid by the Washington state department of transportation. - Daniel Miller

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Richard Fralick

Active, informed members of our community can provide valuable contributions to the public process. I do not have a problem with employees of special interest groups sitting on a citizen advisory group provided that (1) there is full disclosure as to the person’s affiliation and compensation arrangements, (2) participants are chosen based upon their expertise, especially on those boards that deal with technical issues, and (3) no one person (or group) is allowed to dominate the venue. Affiliation with a special interest group, in and of itself, should not automatically qualify anyone for a position on an advisory group. =Richard Fralick

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Mindy Kayl

Failed to respond